Butler, 38, is survived by her longtime partner, Peter Wu, and their two young sons. Wu gave a heart-wrenching goodbye while speaking in front of 8,500 inside the HP Pavilion. He held their son, 5-year-old Joaquin, while he spoke at the podium. Joaquin hugged a teddy bear and wore his mom's police uniform cap.

"Elizabeth, my love, our boys' loving mom. Now her life has ended. She will live on in spirit, and in the lives she touched. I want to share what I whispered to her when I saw her body. I promised I would take care of our sons and they would always know what a great person their mom was. Her memory will serve as my guiding light," Wu said.

Baker, 51, had been on the SCPD force for 28 years and helped train the current SCPD Chief, Kevin Vogel. He is survived by his wife, son and two daughters.

"I'm going to miss Butch's laughter in the halls of the police station," Vogel said inside the HP Pavilion. "He loved his work, he wanted the truth, and he would stop at nothing to get it. He is whom I turned to when things got hard. He served Santa Cruz honorably and with a big smile. He was a tenacious officer and even more tenacious friend."

"Nothing can bring back the passion, laughter, love and light of what we have lost and was taken from us. In the darkness, light comes from the memories of Elizabeth and Butch. We will make sure they never leave our hearts," Vogel said.

"Two officers, two heroes, two friends, taken from us far too soon at the hands of a madman," Vogel said. "(Jeremy Goulet) was sick and unstable."

Butler and Baker were slain by Jeremy Goulet, a former soldier who recently moved to Santa Cruz trying to start his troubled life over.

Former U.S. Defense Secretary and Central Coast-native Leon Panetta gave a powerful speech following Vogel.

"As those shots took the lives of these fine officers, those same bullets ripped the fabric of our community and our family. This is our tragedy," Panetta said.

For those who knew Goulet well, Feb. 26, 2013 marked the end of an escalating path of failed careers, violent relationships and criminal arrests of a disturbed former U.S. Army soldier.

Goulet was yet again accused of sexual assault the week he killed the detectives. Baker and Butler had gone to Goulet's home at 882 Branciforte Dr. to question him, but they were ambushed and had no chance to react before they were shot to death, the sheriff said.

Goulet died while trying to take even more lives, investigators said. He was wearing body armor, had three guns, and opened fire first when a team of deputies and SCPD officers unleashed a barrage of bullets and killed Goulet on Doyle Street.

During his speech at Thursday's memorial, Panetta criticized military leaders for failing to prosecute Goulet when he was accused of rape while serving in the Army at a base in Hawaii.

"There is no way we will ever really understand what made the killer do what he did that afternoon, in what can only be described as an act of execution," Panetta said. "We do know he had a history of sexual violence both in and out of the military. And for whatever reason, people somehow always looked the other way."

"As secretary of defense, I have seen first-hand the growing number of sexual assaults in the military and growing number of suicides," Panetta said. "These are people who are in trouble and many carry the scars of war. And for whatever reason, these people did not receive the help they needed, nor were they prosecuted. Their buddies and their superiors looked the other way. And at some point, somebody pays a price."

"These two fine officers on that Tuesday afternoon, did not look the other way. They drew the line, they were doing their job, and they paid the ultimate price. In so doing, they saved the lives of others," Panetta said.

"Let us pledge in their memory, we will never look the other way," Panetta said.

Baker and Butler will forever be heroes and patriots who gave their lives for Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz heroes: Butch Baker and Elizabeth Butler

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SCPD

Sgt. Butch Baker and Det. Elizabeth Butler were the first Santa Cruz Police Department officers to be killed in the line of duty.